Andrew Scott's Hamlet (Almeida)

This is a "Just me" comment. I believe it's your honest comment but it's all about your personal "faces" reaction and ignores the dramatic reasons for the scene and even suggests that there aren't any! There's a reason for every aspect of this production.

Well, if I wrote it on an random forum, it must be true.  My birthday also isn't on January 1st.  And so ends my brief interaction with online forums.

Theatre monkey you mean I missed you at yesterdays matinee? And I had my badge on and everything.

Only saw this because of all the positive feedback on here as was taking a break from Andrew Scott after getting rather tired of a lot of a bit over the top manic characters. So pleased I did, I think that's probably the best production I've seen of hamlet taken as a whole. The woman were really strong in this for me, loved Juliet Stevenson's Gertrude, probably the best I've seen her and I actually liked Ophelia, I generally loath the character but this portrayal had not a bit of the wet weekend about her. I liked the decision to chose to show us that there had been a relationship there explicitly as it made everything else more painful after that as it all feel apart. I don't know if it was due to seeing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead two days before but I really liked the actress playing Guildenstern too, for once wasn't just a nobody that you forgot. The obvious and genuine affection felt between Peter Wright's Polonius and his children also paid off, I've also seen Polonius as a rather easy character to dislike, seemingly rather careless of his children's feelings but here it felt like seeing a real father and daughter relationship. And Andrew Scott, well not irritating at all, I appreciated the often quietness of his portrayal, the lines seemingly to come like they had just been thought of.

I obviously completly missed the 'bath scene' though, sat on far left side, what happened? I assumed Hamlet and come across Ophelia and been rather rough but am guessing he yanked her out of the bath? She did look damp now I think of it.

Reading back through the thread now and wondering just how much I missed by not being able to see much in that middle section, missed most of the party (beginning) and end dancing.

This production definitely touches people though, in the 'am I a coward' soliloquy a member of the audience appeared to feel compelled to assure Hamlet that he was not, but then there was that other soliloquy where someone's phone went off......

We're really going to start taking this to task for a 15 second scene in a bath tub where you don't see anything explicit? Let's not forget that Angus Wright paraded around buck naked in Oresteia as well, so Icke is relatively equal opportunities on the exposed flesh front.

Has anyone else noticed that Brown Findlay has a really bruised leg in the post bath scene though? Can only assume she's really not holding back when she's punching herself in the mad scene....

I thought they were bruises because Hamlet had assaulted her......that was my immediate assumption at the time....

I'm still cogitating about this as well. My first reaction when I got to the theatre was - SEATS! It's 1000% more enjoyable not being bounced about by the person sitting next to you, so thank you Almeida!

Overall I really thought this was a brilliant production and truly illuminating and communicative - like a lot of people, I really feel like I got insights into the play that I've never had before. All of the main characters felt like real, rounded, relatable people; I actually liked the fact that Claudius was a bit bland because he was human rather than the panto villain he sometimes becomes. And the relationship between him and Gertrude felt real and affectionate - a lot of productions show it as being primarily about sex and/or power, and I liked that there was clearly more to it than that in this production (or at least the first three quarters of it). Amongst a lot of lovely touches I particularly liked the two times that Hamlet tried to hold his parents hands together - again, just a human, understandable gesture that communicated a lot very directly.

A few very very minor quibbles that in no way undermine the overall brilliance:

Mumbling - seriously, I was on row F and I struggled to hear some of the actors - it felt like the idea that truthful acting is non-projecting acting had infiltrated this production a bit.

Andrew Scott - overall absolutely excellent and I loved what he did with so much of it; but by the end, I did think his performance was becoming a bit one-note. I didn't feel as touched by his death as I have in other productions - but that might have been the length and the limits of my concentration as much as anything.

Having said that, although it is long I never felt like it dragged and my concentration didn't really falter. It's such a good, involving production that the length is non-painful and totally forgivable!

Will definitely stay in my memory and I would happily see it again if a ticket became available - though I suspect that's unlikely.

Thank you! I'll have a look at the upper circle - much appreciated!
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I have another question about this production. When hamlet is dragging the body of polonious is the curtain meant to be pulled down as when I saw a preview Andrew and Juliet both looked at each other oddly and I don't know if it was intentional but now looking back I think it was as as they didn't use the curtains for the rest. SO is it planned?

Does Juliet Stevenson walk into the door every night too? There's a scene (can't remember which one, I think I was dozing off) where she leaves through the glass door at the far end of the stage and I could swear that she walked into it. I heard a thump and I believe a little whimper from her as she rubbed her forehead.

Of course it could be one of those pesky artistic decisions.